One year after the Pirates & Yankees made a significant trade for Pittsburgh’s closer, the two clubs consummated another deal in 2026, again for a reliever. Camilo Doval, who joined the Yankees on July 31st of last year, was shipped out a year later for two prospects.
The Pirates’ Return
- RP Camilo Doval (4.54 ERA, 39 K over 39.2 IP)
Last year, the Yankees acquired both ex-Pirate David Bednar and Camilo Doval right at the deadline to improve a bullpen that was in flux after Devin Williams‘ struggles with the club. Doval was coming off an improved season with the Giants. However, his one-year tenure with the Yankees yielded mixed results.
Doval posted an ERA above 4.50 this season with the Yankees. New York used him in multiple different roles, including in the middle innings & the late innings, although the vast majority of his work came in non-save situations.
With Doval, you get what you get with a high-effort reliever with plus stuff but below-average command. Just in his last outings as a Yankee, three of those saw him walk at least two batters. And in two of those games, he walked three.
But in terms of pure stuff, very few have the kind of arsenal that Doval possesses. The veteran right-hander has one of the hardest cutters in the game, a pitch that he ran up to as high as 103 MPH. With that kind of velocity and action, it can create what you would expect: weak contact and some swing-and-miss.
Aside from that, Doval works with a hard sinker, as well as a changeup and a slider. The one positive with his stuff is that Doval, for the most part, limits well-hit contact. Although that’s fluctuated over time this season.
Doval is on pace to have one more year of team control after 2026.
The Yankees’ Return
- C Omar Alfonzo (.238/.337/.419, nine HR & 20 XBH over 62 GP (FCL, A, AA))
- OF Luis Cruz (.300/.463/.380, no HR & three XBH over 18 GP (DSL))
While only 22 years of age, Omar Alfonzo has been in the Pirates’ organization since 2019. After several years in rookie ball, Alfonzo was able to move up to full-season ball in 2023 and hit for some power over the past few seasons.
He hit 13 in 2024, 14 in 2025, and is on pace for another double-digit home run campaign.
Alfonso got off to a very slow start, as he only slashed .200/.284/.323 over his first month of the year in Double-A. But then, things started to turn around for him, as he hit five home runs and slugged .596 during June.
That month was an interesting one; a Whiff% of over 36% in Altoona. However, lots of takes. Not many of those were called strikes, a good sign that Alfonzo wasn’t all that passive in said takes.
Defensively, Alfonzo stabilized over the last two years after he allowed 13 passed balls across 66 contests. This season, a sub-20% CS% for the 22-year-old, who has also seen a good amount of time at first & DH this season.
The other grab was Luis Cruz, an 18-year-old outfield prospect currently in the DSL. Cruz is 6’1” and only 155 pounds. He walked 14 times over 18 games in an injury-shortened 2026 campaign.
Analysis
Doval wasn’t one of the big high-leverage arms for the Yankees. As noted above, Bednar has been very effective as the club’s closer since he arrived in The Bronx last summer. Aside from Bednar, Fernando Cruz has been very good for the club, and Angel Chivilli has turned a corner after he started to use a hard changeup far more frequently than in the past.
So, the move does offer the Yankees the opportunity to move from Doval and acquire assets from a team in need of some help in the bullpen.
The Pirates shook up their bullpen in July, cutting Dennis Santana and bringing in Brandon Eisert & Ron Marinaccio. However, both Eisert & Marinaccio are middle relievers, and Eisert is now in Triple-A after a tough start to his Bucs career.
Doval does have closer experience with the Giants, although he certainly had his highs and lows with the club. But as noted above, the stuff is premium when Doval is on.
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